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Graph Editor – Blender 2.80 Fundamentals



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Graph Editor in Blender #

The Graph Editor in Blender is a powerful and essential tool for animating and fine-tuning your projects. It provides a visual representation of animation curves, allowing you to modify keyframes and their interpolation more precisely. This guide will introduce you to the Graph Editor in Blender, covering its features and usage for more advanced and nuanced control over your animations.

Overview of the Graph Editor #

The Graph Editor is an editor window that can be accessed by changing any editor type to “Graph Editor” in the editor type dropdown menu. It displays the animation curves for selected objects, which represent the changes in an object’s properties (such as location, rotation, or scale) over time.

Navigating the Graph Editor #

To navigate the Graph Editor in Blender, follow these basic controls:

  1. Zooming: Use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out of the Graph Editor, or press the “Home” key to frame all visible curves in the view.
  2. Panning: Hold the middle mouse button and drag to pan the Graph Editor view.
  3. Selecting: Left-click on a keyframe or curve to select it, or press “A” to select all keyframes and curves.

Editing Animation Curves #

The Graph Editor allows you to edit the animation curves, which control the timing and value transitions of keyframes. Some basic editing operations include:

  1. Move Keyframes: Select a keyframe and press “G” to move it along the timeline or value axis.
  2. Scale Keyframes: Press “S” to scale the selected keyframes, which can be useful for adjusting the speed or intensity of an animation.
  3. Rotate Keyframes: Press “R” to rotate the selected keyframes around the current pivot point, which can help create more complex or nonlinear animations.

Working with Handles and Interpolation #

In the Graph Editor, each keyframe has handles that control the interpolation between keyframes. There are three types of handles in Blender: Free, Aligned, and Vector. You can change the handle type by selecting a keyframe and pressing “V” followed by the desired handle type. Adjusting these handles allows you to customize the easing and shape of the animation curves, creating smoother or more stylized transitions.

Modifiers and Drivers #

The Graph Editor also provides powerful features for creating procedural animations and driving object properties using mathematical expressions or other object properties:

  1. Modifiers: Use modifiers to apply procedural transformations to your animation curves, such as noise or cyclic patterns. To add a modifier, select a curve, then click on the “Modifiers” tab in the right-hand panel, and choose a modifier type from the “Add Modifier” menu.
  2. Drivers: Drivers are a way to control object properties or animation channels based on other object properties, mathematical expressions, or Python scripts. To create a driver, right-click on a property or channel and select “Add Driver.” Configure the driver settings in the right-hand panel under the “Drivers” tab.

Tips for Using the Graph Editor #

  1. Lock Curves: To avoid accidentally modifying certain curves, you can lock them in the Graph Editor. Select the curve, then click the padlock icon in the right-hand panel to lock or unlock the curve.
  2. Filter Channels: When working with complex animations, the Graph Editor can become cluttered with numerous curves. Use the “Filter” feature in the right-hand panel to display only the curves relevant to your current task, streamlining your workflow.

The Graph Editor in Blender is an essential tool for creating and editing advanced animations, offering fine-grained control over keyframe interpolation and procedural animation techniques.

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